At age 22, Garrett Lord accomplished the nearimpossible: Without the advantages of attending an elite school like Stanford or MIT, or a built-in network bequeathed by wealthy parents, he managed to cold-call well, cold-email) his way into a summer internship at Palantir, then one of Silicon Valley’s hottest data-mining startups.
For the computer science major from Michigan Technological University, located in the small Upper Peninsula town of Houghton, a job at the CIA-backed company was a ticket to the big leagues. Sweet gigs at VC-backed software unicorns, complete with high salaries and equity grants, were sure to follow.
Days after arriving at Palantir’s Washington, D.C., office in May 2012, though, the 6-foot-1 Midwesterner had serious self-doubts. The 15 other interns seemed to hail from a different universe. They all attended brandname schools and spent much of their time chatting about their high-end research projects or bragging about upcoming European vacations. Lord’s only trip out of the U.S. was to nearby Canada for a hockey tournament when he was a young teen.
“I remember calling my dad and he said, You might not be smarter than them, but I do know one thing: Youre not going to blow this opportunity, and you will work harder than them,’” Lord, now 33, recalls. Rather than retreat, he decided he was gonna crush it” and prove he could hang with all these kids.”
Crush it he did. He won the company’s annual hackathon and gained the respect of Palantir higherups, who, he says, were shocked that someone so smart and talented came from such a little-known school. They offered him a referral bonus—$5,000 per hired engineer—to bring in other talented students from Michigan Tech.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Jan 2023 من Forbes Middle East - English.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Jan 2023 من Forbes Middle East - English.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Celebrating Emirati Businesswomen and Entrepreneurs on Emirati Women's Day
As part of the U.A.E.’s annual Emirati Women’s Day celebrations, the Abu Dhabi Business Women Council and the Abu Dhabi Chamber hosted an event on August 28, 2024, under the theme “We Collaborate for Tomorrow,” celebrating the role and achievements of Emirati women.
THE MIDDLE EAST'S TOP 100 HEALTHCARE LEADERS 2024
MENA’s healthcare landscape is evolving towards integration, marked by the rise of fully comprehensive ecosystems. Industry giants are setting future trends, driven by systems that thrive on data abundance, accessibility, and intersectoral collaboration.
SCOUTING FOR OPPORTUNITIES
Ayman Cheikh-Lahlou, Chairman and CEO of the Morocco-based Cooper Pharma, took the helm of the family-owned pharmaceutical company in 2005 and has seen business boom over nearly 20 years. Now, he’s exploring expansion opportunities in new markets.
TURNING THE TIDE
Irina Zaporozhets, President and General Manager for Eli Lilly Suisse S.A. in the META region is driving expansion, focusing on innovation and patient-centric care. As she navigates regional challenges, her commitment to expanding access to medicine remains at the forefront.
Supercharging AI
Armed with a newly raised 640 million, GROQ thinks it can challenge one of the world’s most valuable companies with a purpose-built chip designed for Al from scratch.
How Technology is Accelerating Digital Equality in Diverse Markets
The rise of smartphones and digital technologies has transformed our daily lives, contributing to the evolution of connected consumers.
Rare Fortune
Money manager JAMES LITINSKY turned a bad junk bond bet into a $400 million fortune. His MP Materials operates a strategic mine and will begin manufacturing supermagnets for electric vehicles next year.
The State of Mental Health in the Middle East
While mental health awareness is on the rise, the Middle East faces some challenges in providing care. Still, we're seeing some progress.
Big Breakthroughs
From gene therapy to nasal sprays, these were some of the most significant healthcare breakthroughs in the last year.
MENA's 5 Most Valuable Healthcare Companies 2024
The combined market cap of 57 healthcare companies listed on MENA's stock exchanges hit $83.7 billion on August 13, 2024, with the top five companies accounting for about 62.4% of the total market cap. These are MENA's five most valuable healthcare companies in 2024.